General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2018

Mar 2018

Feb 13, 2022

RSS' Muslim Wing Backs Burqa-clad Girl

Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), the RSS's Muslim wing, has backed the burqa-clad student who was heckled by youth shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans at a Karnataka college, saying 'purdah' is part of Indian culture.
A video of the girl, Bibi Muskan Khan, confronting the youngsters wearing saffron scarves has gone viral on social media. The group had gathered outside the college demanding a ban on hijab and burqa in educational institutions.
Hijab is a type of 'purdah' which is a part of Indian culture and India society. Even Hindu women in our society, depending on the individual, wear 'purdah'. If Hindu women are free to choose their dress code, the same applies with Muslim.
The MRM was set up in 2002 by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the initiative of its then chief K.S. Sudarshan to allow the sangh parivar to reach out to the Muslim community on various issues including the vexed Ayodhya Ram Temple dispute.

Manipur Assembly Polls Rescheduled

The Election Commission rescheduled the dates for the two-phase assembly polls in Manipur which will now be held on February 28 and March 5.
Earlier, the polls were to be held on February 27 and March 3.
EC said that the decision is based on inputs, representations, past precedent, logistics, ground situations and "all facts and circumstances in the matter".

Setback for Congress as MP's Brother Joins SAD(B)

Politics makes strange bedfellows and this happened in the Punjab polity after the brother of a Congress Member of Parliament not only joined hands with Shiromani Akali Dal - Badal SAD(B) but also publicly announced to motivate the MP to join Akalis.
On Wednesday, Harpinder Singh Rajan Gill, a staunch Congress activist and brother of Congress MP from Khadoor Sahib Jasbir Singh Dimpa joined SAD(B) in presence of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia, an all-powerful former minister and brother in law of Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Rajan Gill was an aspirant of Congress party's ticket from Khadoor Sahib Assembly constituency but the party chose to nominate the sitting MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki.

School Bands to Regularly Perform at National War Memorial

School bands will regularly perform at the National War Memorial in New Delhi on a rotational basis. The objective of this initiative is to inculcate the values of patriotism, devotion to duty, courage, and sacrifice among the schoolchildren and increase the participation of people, especially the youth, so that they experience the various facts associated with the ironic war memorial.
The education ministry has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education to prepare a schedule for the bands to perform. The themes and tunes of the band will be decided in coordination with the Directorate of National War Memorial and Museum and Integrated Defence Staff.
The performances will tentatively begin from February 22 ahead of the third anniversary of the memorial.

Feb 12, 2022

India- Bangladesh Webinar on Solid Waste Management

The municipalities of Indore and Dhaka North held a virtual dialogue, for sharing best practises in solid waste management.
Webinar was facilitated by High Commission of India and Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
During the webinar, waste collection methods were shared by Indore Municipal Corporation.
Municipal Corporation of Indore detailed about 100 percent door-to-door segregated waste collection system, GPS-tracked waste collection vehicle and biometric attendance system for municipal cleaners.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) officials also shared their best practises and held productive discussions on taking forward the cooperation in solid waste management and other municipal services.
Indore was ranked as the cleanest city of India in cleanliness Survey 2021. Since 2017, the city has won this distinction for five consecutive times because of its much-applauded waste management system including door to door collection, segregation of waste, home composting, central composting facilities and recycling of day waster.

Lata Mangeshkar's Ashes Immersed in Nashik's Ramkund

The family of Lata Mangeshkar bid farewell to the legendary singer, who died on February 6. Lata Mangeshkar's family members visited Nashik and immersed her ashes in the sacred Pavitra Ramkund on the banks of the Godavari River.
Lata's nephew, Adinath Mangeshkar and other relatives were present at the immersion ceremony.
Nashik Purohit Sangh president Satish Shukla conducted the rituals. Nashik civic commissioner Kailas Jadhav and some local politicians were also present on the occasion.

Feb 11, 2022

India's First Biomass-based Hydrogen Plant

India's first commercial-scale biomass-based hydrogen plant will be constructed in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.
From 30 tonnes of biomass feedstock, Biomass-based hydrogen plant will produce a tonne of hydrogen per day.
It will also produce biochar and methane.
It will be put up with an investment of Rs. 24 crore.
The plant is being put up by Watomo Energies Ltd in association with Biezel Green Energy.
Watomo Energies is headquartered in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. Watomo Energies is a 'consulting, implementation, marketing, and project management company'. It is more like a farmer-producer organization.
Biezel Green is a company promoted by Prof Preetam Singh, from IIT BHU. It is the technology partner, owning the technology for 'thermally accelerated anaerobic digestion (TAD) reactor'.
The plant is likely to go on streem by July 2022.

PM Modi Virtually Address High-level Segment of One Ocean Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the high-level segment of the One Ocean Summit through a video message.
The high-level segment of the summit was also addressed by several other heads of states and governments including Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan and Canada.
The summit was organised by France from February 9-11 in Brest in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank.
The objective of the summit was to mobilise the international community to take tangible action towards preserving and supporting healthy and sustainable ocean ecosystems.

4,844 Foreigners Granted Indian Citizenship in Past 5 Years

According to Union Minister Nityanand Rai, as many as 4,844 foreigners were granted Indian citizenship in the past five years under the Citizenship Act 1955.
The minister informed that 1,773 foreigners were granted Indian citizenship in 2021, 639 in 2020, 987 in 2019, 628 in 2018 and 817 in 2017.

Feb 10, 2022

Atal Tunnel is 'Longest Highway Tunnel above 10,000 Feet'

Atal Tunnel, named after former Prime Minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was officially certified by the World Book of Records as the `World`s Longest Highway Tunnel above 10,000 Feet`.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the recognition came during a landmark ceremony in New Delhi. Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry, Director General of Border Roads Organisation (DGBR) received the award for the stupendous achievement of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in constructing this engineering marvel connecting Manali to the Lahaul - Spiti Valley.
World Book of Records, UK, is an organisation that catalogues and verifies extraordinary records across the world with authentic certification. Notably, Atal Tunnel was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 3, 2020.
The 9.02 km long, strategically significant, Atal Tunnel, that runs under the `Rohtang Pass` was constructed on the Manali - Leh Highway under the challenging conditions of freezing temperatures in extremely difficult terrain.

Wrestler, the Great Khali, Joins BJP in Delhi

Professional wrestler Dalip Singh Rana, also known as The Great Khali, joined BJP in Delhi.
Born August 27, 1972, Dalip Singh Rana is an Indian professional wrestler and wrestling promoter, who has also been seen in films - both Hollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for his time in WWE under the ring name The Great Khali. Khali had made his professional wrestling debut in 2000. He was an officer for the Punjab Police, before he began his WWE career. Khali also went on to become the WWE Champion.
Khali's inclusion into BJP comes days ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls. Punjab will go to the polls on February 20 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Deloitte Women in Boardroom: Report

The Women in the Boardroom report was released by Deloitte Global. This was the seventh edition of the report. According to the report, women hold only 17.1% board seats in India. However, this has increased. In 2014, it was 9.4%. 2014 has been taken as base year of comparison because in 2013, the companies act mandated that every board should have at least one woman member.
As per the report, only 3.6% of the chairpersons are women in the country. The women representation in chair positions has come down in the last four years. Globally, the women representation in boards is 19.7%. This has increased by 2.8% as compared to 2018. Between 2016 and 2018, the increase was 1.9%. At this pace, the equality in representation all over the world shall be achieved only by 2045.
In 2021, the number of women taking up CEO roles in India increased. Around 4.7% of the CEOs in India were women in 2021. It was 3.4% in 2018. Globally, the women CEO percentage was 33.5%. It was 19.4% in 2018.

Feb 09, 2022

Centre Issues New Media Accreditation Guidelines for Journalists

The Central government released the Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022, under which the accreditation will be withdrawn or suspended if a journalist acts in a manner prejudicial to the country's security, sovereignty and integrity, friendly relations with foreign States, public order or is charged with a serious cognisable offence.
Among the other circumstances under which the accreditation can be withdrawn/suspended are actions prejudicial to decency, or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
According to the guidelines, accredited media persons have been prohibited from using the words "Accredited to the government of India" on public/social media profile, visiting cards, letter heads or on any other form or any published work.

RPF Launches Nationwide "AAHT Operation" to Curb Human Trafficking

Indian Railway Protection Force launched a nationwide operation to curb human trafficking. As part of "Operation AAHT", special teams were deployed on all long-distance trains/routes with a focus on rescuing victims, particularly women and children, from the clutches of traffickers. The Railways, which operate about 21,000 trains across the country daily, is the most reliable mode of transportation for the traffickers who often moved their victims on long-distance trains.
The RPF that rescued more than 2,000 women and children between 2017-21 from the clutches of traffickers intensified the crackdown on human trafficking with the increasing number of cases. The National Crime Records Bureau registers about 2,200 cases of Human Trafficking cases on an average each year.

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